Imperial shooting match at the main shooting range in Merano

Appendix.

Imperial shooting match in Merano. 1/2

As has already been reported in these pages, His Majesty Emperor Ferdinand, during his stay in Merano in the summer of 1838, donated the sum of 500 florins Viennese currency in convention coins to the imperial-royal main shooting range of this ancient residence of the Tyrolean sovereign princes for a national shooting festival, to be held at the discretion of the shooting directors at an opportune time. It was deemed that no more fitting occasion could be chosen to celebrate this imperial benefaction than 19 April 1839, the birthday of the exalted donor, when so many sentiments of gratitude and love from all spheres of Tyrolean life converge into the centre of loyal subject devotion, as felt and expressed by the hearts of the Tyrolese. The long-awaited day, heralded throughout the entire district of the Burggrafenamt by the preparations for the festival, opened with the most solemn church service in the parish church, to invoke Heaven's blessing upon the pious Emperor and the pious Empress. Present were the officials of the district court, the professors of the gymnasium with their pupils, and committees from the Capuchin convent and the English Ladies, alongside a very considerable gathering of the populace. Following this religious ceremony, everyone streamed into the shooting range, which had been enlarged and decorated with special taste, to inspect the prizes on display there. The main prize comprised two divisions, of 50 and 25 imperial thalers, the former with an elegant flag, each bearing distinct adornments representing in ingenious mounts here the imperial crown, there the initials of the Emperor's name. The garland offered the fortunate winner, with a distinct flag in the first division around the Emperor's eagle, 18 imperial thalers alongside a flag, and in the second division, bearing the initials of the Empress's name, 12 imperial thalers. Added to this were six divisions of minor prizes of 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 imperial thalers, with a premium of two thalers for the greatest number of black-centre hits. The two flags and all ornaments with the cash prizes were suspended inside the shooting range directly opposite those entering, upon extraordinarily ornate, broad satin ribbons. The garland plug-target, likewise exhibited here, featured a tableau from the defensive struggles of the valiant Tyrolese. At the ravine formed by two converging mountain ridges, the ready Landsturm fighters ambushed an advancing body of the enemy; a fierce engagement ensued in which the foreign intruders were routed and compelled to retreat from the battlefield, which was strewn with their dead. Several patriotic sharpshooters had met an honourable death alongside the enemy, scarcely mourned by their kin, for they had fallen for their Emperor, for the cause of their homeland. This grave background extended into wide fields, catching the viewer's eye significantly in the foreground, here with a lively shooting range full of riflemen, there with a churchyard where the crosses over the fallen defenders of the land rose up comfortingly. A maiden betrothed knelt upon the fresh graves, not mourning the lost one, but blissfully aware that he, obedient to the higher duty, had undauntedly chosen a noble death for Emperor and Fatherland, competing for the finest grand prize of Tyrolean sharpshooters. Wreathing both fore- and background in a circle were the verses expressly requested for this purpose by the shooting directors, taken from the memorial book of the hereditary homage of Tyrol in 1838:

The rifleman's bride at the burial mound

Kisses, bright with tears, the seal of the cross,

And every flower at the edge of the grave;

It is a bold and proud kissing,

The rifleman feels it, pierced by shots:

“He died for Emperor Ferdinand!”

Meanwhile afternoon had arrived; a festive procession made its way through the town with all the prizes and the plug-targets, led by drum and fife, which once so simply and solemnly had cheered the fighters on the Küchlberg and on the Sinnich into battle, at times accompanied by the blare of six trumpeters dressed in the handsome, fitting costume of the local peasantry. The departure and the return to the shooting stand were greeted by loud salutes from mortars. The opening of the free shooting followed immediately. Its duration was set for eight days, but the registry itself remained open only until 24 April, with the reservation on the part of the shooting directors to allow an extension according to circumstances. The entry fee for four barrels on the main target was 12 florins, for the same number of shots on the garland 4, thus amounting to 16 florins for both main target and garland together. The first prize on the main target was set at 18 florins, on the garland at 6 florins, with all other prizes distributed at 45 per 100 shots. During the preceding days fierce storms had raged; a violent north-westerly wind, with all the unpredictable turns of its caprice, offered the shooters little prospect of favourable shooting conditions; even its apparent lull on the imperial birthday lasted only a brief while, blowing more or less continuously throughout all eight days. Notwithstanding this, 251 shooters from all parts of the land assembled; even men from the Ötztal and from the Italian-speaking border districts were present. Among them, 205 shooters entered for the main prize, and the entirety of 251 for the garland, contending with persevering fortitude against the inclemency of the weather.

(Conclusion to follow.)